Devotionals

The old covenant high priests offered sacrifices that satisfied God’s justice and demonstrated His mercy. God accepted the offerings from these imperfect men because He knew Christ’s own perfect sacrifice would cover their sins. Thank God for such an amazing ...Read More

God’s holiness should indeed cause those who do not know Christ to run far away from Him. Those who know Christ, however, must remember Calvin’s assertion that “when Christ receives us under His protection and patronage, He covers with His ...Read More

Some theologians portray Christ’s sympathy with His people as weak and ineffectual. Though Christ may feel what we feel (insofar as our emotions are not sinful), He does not merely stand beside us whimpering and weighed down by emotion. Rather, ...Read More

The book of Hebrews tells us to hold to our confession of faith not because we are able to do so but because Christ’s power will make us stand firm. We cannot trust in our ability to work up faith ...Read More

Sometimes we downplay the importance of narratives for determining doctrine because they are generally less explicit than other portions of Scripture. Numbers 23:19, however, shows us that even narratives contain didactic statements. As you read biblical narratives, look out for ...Read More

Many critics read the Bible differently than they read other books. Thus, passages like Matthew 13:31–32 are sometimes wrongly viewed as examples of error. Remind the critics you know that the Bible is a literary work, and, like other works, ...Read More

Modern science and mathematics enable us to speak with great precision at times. Truth, however, does not always demand the kind of precision that we find in modern science. Remember that the approximations, estimates, and other uses of language we ...Read More

If we ignore the intent of the author, the Bible can mean whatever we want it to mean. Divisions in the church, cultic groups, radical subjectivism, and our own Scripture-twisting all attest to this. When studying the Bible, investigate Bible ...Read More

Though written thousands of years ago to a culture very different from our own, Scripture still communicates God’s Word to us today. The power of the Bible to convict us and lead us lies in the fact that it is ...Read More

Many times people will claim that God has commanded them to do something that violates the Bible. But as we have seen, if we disobey God’s Word, we disobey God Himself even if we think we are hearing His voice. ...Read More